The Philosophy of Hospice

‘Philosophy’ may seem a pretentious word to use to refer to a developing specialty, growing as it has out of an older tradition of care based in the western world on a (now less recognized) Christian heri-tage. Approached somewhat tentatively, however, the following definitions lead into a discussion of the basic assumptions on which a now worldwide movement is based, and point out the principles which those with widely varying belief systems can embrace.